


A Diamond in the Rough

by talesofsymphoniac



Series: Richass Aladdin AU [1]
Category: Tales of Graces, Tales of Series
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Aladdin (1992) Fusion, M/M, Richass Week 2016
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-22
Updated: 2016-07-22
Packaged: 2018-07-25 23:50:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,035
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7551946
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/talesofsymphoniac/pseuds/talesofsymphoniac
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Aladdin AU. Prince Richard is being pressured into marriage, but he craves the freedom of marrying for love and seeing the rest of the world. Determined to escape the confines of the palace, he disguises himself and runs away to a world he has never known. His inexperience quickly gets him into trouble with the knights, but he is saved by a stranger, a commoner named Asbel, who knows nothing of his true identity.</p><p>Written a while back, posting for Day Five of Richass Week 2016: Trust</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Diamond in the Rough

**Author's Note:**

> This was originally written as a one shot, though I wrote a second part for Richass Week 2016. It's not the full story of Aladdin, but rather a few key scenes. The rest up to your imagination, I suppose! Please enjoy!

“I can’t thank you enough for stopping that man. I owe you a great debt,” Richard said once they had stopped running long enough for him to catch his breath. Asbel got a charmingly flustered look on his face, and he quickly made himself busy, grabbing a pole from a nearby stack.  
  
“Don’t worry about it,” he said quickly. “I was happy to help. Hang on a second…” Richard watched as he used the pole to leap over the gap between two rooftops as easily as if he’d done it every day of his life. “So, was this your first time in the marketplace, then?” he asked, reaching for a wooden board that lay discarded on the other rooftop.  
  
Richard, who had moved to examine one of the poles from the pile, chuckled. “Is it really that obvious?”  
  
Asbel forgot about the plank for a minute, backtracking furiously, obviously worried he had been insensitive somehow. “That’s not what I mean, sorry, I just—“  
  
Richard cut him off with a good-humored wave of the hand. “It’s fine. I suppose I do rather stand out.”  
  
Asbel looked at him gratefully, a stumbling little “Y-yeah” escaping his lips. Richard, working up the courage to copy the stranger’s maneuver with the pole, missed the admiring look the young man was bestowing him. As if suddenly realizing what he looked like, Asbel shook his head as if to clear it. “I mean, um, Barona can be a pretty dangerous place, you know? You’ve got to be careful.”  
  
He finally succeeded in getting the plank across the gap between the two buildings, just in time to see Richard leap across on his own. Richard shot him an apologetic smile, but he seemed thrilled. “Wow! That was amazing! Are you sure this is your first time with this kind of thing?”  
  
Richard found himself surprised and flattered by his enthusiasm. “I am a fast learner,” he said, throwing his pole aside too, aware that his face was probably a little red.  
  
Asbel, looking like he wanted to say more, settled for a huge grin that Richard was already coming to appreciate. He held his hand out for Richard. “Come on, then, this way.”  
  
Still feeling a little flushed, Richard grabbed the man’s hand and followed him across several more rooftops, up and down stairs that looked more like hidden passageways than anything else. It was clear that Asbel spent a lot of time up here; he knew this place like the back of his hand. Every once in a while, Richard would hear a warning to duck his head here or watch his step there, and before long, they had arrived at a secluded little corner hidden away, furnished with a few cushions on crates.  
  
“It’s like a little hideout,” Richard said, ducking into the small space.  
  
Asbel followed him, reaching into one of the crates and pulling out two apples. He offered one to Richard, who gladly accepted. “Yep. I used to come here a lot when I was little. It’s a good place to go sometimes, when you need to be alone…” He reached up to scratch his head, looking guilty. “Or hide from guards.”  
  
Richard raised an eyebrow. “Oh, you get in trouble with them a lot, do you?”  
  
Asbel flushed again, taking a bit of his apple and muttering something unintelligible. “Not that much…”  
  
Richard laughed. “I’m just teasing. I think it’s a fantastic little place.”  
  
Asbel swallowed, more at ease now. “It’s really not that great,” he said, reaching for a curtain on the opposite side as the entrance. “Except…” he pulled back the curtain, looking over his shoulder to see Richard’s reaction. “It does have a great view.”  
  
Behind the curtain was not, as Richard had suspected, more wall, but an opening where the palace could be seen clearly. Richard supposed it did look rather grand from this perspective, but at the moment seeing it made his stomach writhe with guilt.  
  
“The palace looks pretty amazing, doesn’t it?” Asbel was looking at him expectantly, so Richard quickly changed his face into what he hoped was a pleased expression (it ended up more on the wistful side) and said, “Yes, I suppose it must, from here.”  
  
This must have satisfied the other man, because he looked back at the palace himself and sighed. “I wonder what it must be like to live there, to be one of those knights and live like that…”  
  
Looking back at the palace he had run from, Richard heard himself speak. “Yes… though in many ways, it’s nothing more than a gilded cage. Having to speak a certain way, behave a certain way, meet expectations day in and day out.”  
  
“It’s got to be better than out here, though,” Asbel said longingly. “Never treated like you’re a waste of space, or anything less than you are. Able to make a difference in the world.”  
  
“You’re not free to make your own decisions,” Richard said, almost to himself.  
  
“Sometimes you just feel—“  
  
“And you end up feeling—“  
  
“Trapped,” the two said in unison, and they looked at each other, caught very much off-guard. Richard felt a sense of understanding pass between them, though they knew so little about each other. It was startling, but also, Richard thought, exhilarating. This was already worth leaving the palace, to have met someone so different from him in background, yet so noble and generous to someone he’d just met, and to feel this inexplicable sense of belonging.  
  
Once again, Asbel broke their silence first. “So, speaking of which, you never said where you were from,” he said, taking another bite of apple between words. Was Asbel embarrassed, or did he simply lack the refined upbringing Richard had had? Either way, Richard found he didn’t mind much.  
  
“Does it make a difference, in the end?” Richard’s smile was an apologetic one. He was well aware that his answer was vague. “I ran away, and I don’t think I can go back.”  
  
Asbel immediately looked concerned, and Richard found himself once again wondering on how noble this man was without really trying. “Really? Why? What happened? I mean, if you don’t mind me asking?”  
  
“It’s fine.” Richard paused, trying to decide how much he could say without giving himself away. “My father is forcing me to get married. I couldn’t face it in good conscience.”  
  
Asbel looked down, unsure what to say. “That’s… that’s awful,” he offered weakly. “I’m sorry.”  
  
“Don’t be,” Richard said gently. “It’s not your fault by any means.”  
  
“I know,” the other said. “It’s just… it’s not fair. And…” he looked back up again, and Richard could practically see goodness radiating from his bright blue eyes. “I wish there was something I could do to help.”  
  
Richard felt his face grow hot again at the man’s intense stare. “You’ve already done more than enough to help. I’m very fortunate to have met someone like you today, Asbel.” He couldn’t help but admire the way Asbel’s face turned a bit pink too. “Fortunate… and glad,” he admitted gently.  
  
“I’m glad I could meet you, too—Oh!” he started suddenly, scratching the back of his head shyly. “Um, I just realized I’m not sure what your name is.”  
  
“Oh, um…” Richard panicked. Should he tell the truth? Richard wasn’t that uncommon of a name, and he didn’t want to lie to his first friend outside the palace, but still, maybe he should be careful.  
  
Before he could decide, though, he heard a gruff voice from behind them. “There you are!” Startled, they both turned to see a huge, angry knight struggling to fit in the rather snug hideout, with more coming in behind him.  
  
“They found me,” Richard muttered, suddenly feeling quite trapped, between a murderous-looking knight and a rather steep drop to the streets below.  
  
“Not these guys again!” Asbel cursed, glancing down at the streets below. Both of them glanced at each other, both confused at who these people were actually after and why the other thought they were after them.  
  
“My father must have sent them, I’m sorry—“ Richard explained desperately, not able to think much. Behind him, the knight was getting used to moving in the small space and was quickly approaching.  
  
Cutting him off, Asbel held out a hand for Richard again. “Do you trust me?” he asked, once again meeting Richard’s eyes with that intensity that made Richard’s frazzled mind calm.  
  
“Do you trust me?” he repeated, and this time Richard was able to nod and take his hand.  
  
“Then _jump!_ ” he said, tugging Richard toward the edge of the building, and the two of them leapt off the roof together just as the knights reached where they had been standing only a second earlier. Richard squeezed the other man’s hand as if it were a lifeline, until they landed in a pile of hay. Asbel helped Richard up, but he was still rather dazed from the unexpected fall, and by the time they were moving again, they were cornered once again by a group of four nasty-looking knights.  
  
“We just keep running into each other, don’t we?” One of them said, speaking to Asbel as he was grabbed by two of the other knights. “It’ll be the dungeon for you this time, boy!”  
  
Asbel struggled to get out of their grip. “Get off of me! I didn’t do anything, I swear!”  
  
Richard realized, when he thought about the incident later with a clearer mind, that since he was being largely ignored by the other knights, he could have probably made a run for it and gotten away. Maybe, he thought, that was even what Asbel wanted him to do. But as much as he didn’t want to go back to the palace, the thought of running never even occurred to him. Instead, he stood up straight and said, very firmly, “Let go of him. Now.”  
  
The knights, finally noticing him, were less than impressed. One of them had the audacity to laugh and push Richard right back down, despite the Asbel’s cries of protest. “What is this, then? Another little troublemaker?”  
  
Undaunted, Richard reached into his pocket and shoved something onto his finger. He stood again, holding out his hand, and spoke very clearly, with deceptive calmness. “I said, unhand him. By order of the Crown Prince of Windor.”  
  
Each one of the knights looked down at the royal ring on the man’s hand. With his other hand, Richard slowly pulled away his hood, and it quickly became evident to each knight exactly who they had chased off a building. One by one, they all kneeled before him, though Richard couldn’t fail to notice the unyielding grip they kept on the Asbel.  
“Prince Richard…” one of the knights murmured, head bowed low.  
  
“The prince?” Asbel said, sounding completely at a loss, and Richard couldn’t bear to look at him, for fear of what he might see. What on earth must Asbel be thinking of him?  
  
“What are you doing outside the palace? And with this commoner?” One of the knights said fiercely, though he remained low on the ground.  
  
Richard spoke curtly. “That’s not your concern. Do as I command and release him!”  
  
Still they didn’t comply. One of the other knights, the leader, Richard believed, granted him a forced smile before saying, “Well, I would, your Highness, but my orders come directly from your uncle. You’ll have to take it up with him.”  
  
Although a little dismayed at this, Richard did not show it. He merely looked at the knight sternly and said, “I plan to. In the meantime, if I find out that he has been hurt or mistreated in any way, you will have me to deal with. Do you understand?”  
  
The knight muttered a halfhearted agreement and left quickly, and it was only then that Richard realized that the rest of the knights had already dragged Asbel away before Richard could speak with him. They’d actually left him there, in the middle of the street, he marveled, but of course he had to go back to the palace now. Whatever business his uncle had with Asbel, it was Richard’s duty to make sure he was okay.


End file.
